Intech Investment Management LLC Purchases 19,706 Shares of First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME)

Intech Investment Management LLC grew its stake in First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME - Free Report) by 185.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 30,338 shares of the bank's stock after buying an additional 19,706 shares during the quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC owned 0.05% of First Merchants worth $1,210,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of FRME. PL Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in First Merchants by 3,889.0% during the 4th quarter. PL Capital Advisors LLC now owns 27,377,823 shares of the bank's stock worth $1,092,101,000 after purchasing an additional 26,691,490 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in First Merchants by 0.8% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,400,821 shares of the bank's stock worth $52,120,000 after buying an additional 11,430 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in First Merchants by 55.5% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 930,896 shares of the bank's stock valued at $37,133,000 after purchasing an additional 332,168 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of First Merchants by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 886,088 shares of the bank's stock worth $32,962,000 after buying an additional 11,521 shares during the last quarter. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of First Merchants by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 820,649 shares of the bank's stock valued at $32,736,000 after purchasing an additional 19,932 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.92% of the company's stock.

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Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on FRME. Raymond James reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $50.00 price objective (up previously from $42.00) on shares of First Merchants in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Hovde Group upgraded shares of First Merchants from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $50.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of First Merchants from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $55.00 price target (up previously from $52.00) on shares of First Merchants in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $49.00.

First Merchants Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ FRME traded up $0.23 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $41.07. The company had a trading volume of 199,921 shares, compared to its average volume of 244,911. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $42.19 and a two-hundred day moving average of $40.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 0.90. First Merchants Co. has a 12-month low of $30.55 and a 12-month high of $46.13. The company has a market capitalization of $2.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.01 and a beta of 1.05.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The bank reported $1.00 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.10. First Merchants had a net margin of 18.76% and a return on equity of 9.23%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that First Merchants Co. will post 3.79 EPS for the current year.

First Merchants Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were given a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. First Merchants's dividend payout ratio is 40.94%.

About First Merchants

First Merchants Corporation operates as the financial holding company for First Merchants Bank that provides community banking services. The company offers a range of financial services, including time, savings, and demand deposits; and consumer, commercial, agri-business, public finance, and real estate mortgage loans.